A Vicksburg resident wants to hold a peaceful protest Wednesday and Thursday to call attention to black-on-black crime and the lack of prosecution of crimes involving the deaths of blacks.

In a letter to Vicksburg City Clerk Walter Osborne, Briana Knox, a student at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorehead, seeks permission to hold the protest from 5 to 7 p.m. at the corner of Clay and Washington streets near the Merchants Bank Building. Vicksburg NAACP president John Shorter said Knox called him for advice, adding he told her to be careful how she scheduled it to get people to participate.

“We will support her,” he said.

Attempts to contact Knox were unsuccessful, but her letter explains the reason for her request.

“I am writing this letter to protest that black lives matter everywhere,” she wrote.

“I understand that we have black-on-black crimes going on in different states such as Chicago, Memphis and Michigan, but I am a firm believer that we have to take a stand somewhere to put a stop to crimes being committed with no prosecution.

“History is slowly repeating itself and if we do not take a stand now, we will be back where we started.”

Requests to the city for events such as parades, protests and festivals where city streets are affected referred first to the police and fire chiefs, who determine whether there will be a danger to the people involved or to traffic, and then decided by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen based on the chiefs’ recommendation, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said.

The board meets Monday.

“If the police chief and the fire chief say there won’t be a problem, I’m going to support approving it,” he said.

Police Chief Walter Armstrong said Knox talked to him about her plan and he has already given his approval to the application.

“She’s not going to block the street, she says it is going to be a peaceful protest, and they will be on the sidewalk. I’ve already sent it back to the clerk’s office,” he said.